By: Carter Caldwell

The summer before the my junior year, I had a terrible case of procrastination.  I had no drive to do my summer homework whatsoever, so I did what anyone would do: I started researching.

When I was younger, I used to ask my grandparents a lot about their families, just for fun.  As time went on, I got more and more interested in the details of it, so naturally when I needed a great excuse to get out of work, I turned to the family.  I remember thinking: “Now who’s gonna tell me I’m not allowed to research my family?”  And sure enough, no one did.  I fell in love with the constant expansion of it all, and the stories, but I was especially enthralled by the thrill of finding out things that nobody else knew yet.

It fascinates me, to say the least, and I can’t seem to get enough.  There are plenty of avenues to pursue your genealogy, both on the higher end price-wise, as well as completely free.  You can opt to do a DNA test, join any number of websites, or even visit local libraries and cemeteries.  The options really are endless, as the field grows every single day with new DNA tests and records becoming available. The possibilities are endless.  It’s easy to get started: Ancestry has free two-week trials, FamilySearch is entirely free, and a lot of information can simply be found at home, whether that’s in books or with your parents.  Be careful though: once you get started, it’s difficult to stop!